


Just one more stardew valley playthrough

by OrnateBird



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Romance, Depression, Eventual Romance, F/M, References to Depression, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 12:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13763868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrnateBird/pseuds/OrnateBird
Summary: The troubles in the hearts of the residents of Pelican town as seen through multiple perspectives. Slow burn into an eventual romance. The storyline and events will be mostly very different from the actual game. Feel free to comment.





	Just one more stardew valley playthrough

A face full of dirt wasn’t how she imagined starting her life.  
“Fucking steps” she muttered as she picked herself up off the ground, still groggy from a late night of unpacking her things in her new home. Her prior apartment had been much smaller, even if this place only had three rooms. She stood, and looked around at her new livelihood. 

“Trees out the ass”. She was right. On her new farm, there were too many trees to count. Sticks, rocks, and bushes left no space for anything else. She hadn’t even so much as looked at her tools and her thighs already ached, But this was all she had now. Joja Corp. was behind her. No more days stuck at the office.She never hurt more in her life than after that first day, the next 2 years were spent focusing solely on getting as much done as possible. Kara wasn't an active person; Never planned on farming. She had to farm to sustain herself. Joja corp. never did pay very well. The bus ride and legal fees cleaned out all her savings. That’s what made it so rewarding when she built those bee houses or paid the carpenter to build her coop and even a barn. Eventually, she started to wonder though. She had only visited the store in town to buy seeds or get drunk at the bar on rainy days. She barely ever even said hello to anyone other than granny Evelyn, George, and the people who run the shops. “I’m too busy for that,” she thought at first. She validated her lack of social interaction because she had little money and needed to work hard to make ends meet. Once the “comfort items” started appearing in her home and money started pooling towards unnecessary things she could no longer believe that. Her therapist urged her to start interacting. She knew some young people, knew their names, but not much other than that. Her depression had spiraled out of control in the city. She knew no one except her therapist. He had pushed her to move into the small town. “You need human interaction” and “The city is too much for you,” he said over and over. Even after taking his advice and moving she still isolated herself. She knew she eventually needed to make real friends here if she was going to make her life here. She thought “it’s better this way” every time she tried to talk to someone her age and failed. A few townsfolk insisted that Kara was going to leave eventually and chose to act as if she didn't exist. Some were too busy with work most of the time anyway.  
“I’m just gonna go” Kara mutters to herself. After a long, rainy Friday in the mines. Carrying her heavy backpack with her in the rain all the way to the bar. Around this time of night, especially on Fridays, the bar is as busy as one of Kara’s beehives. 

“Hey! Over here!” Sam yells across the crowd of people. The jukebox is playing loud but the dull roar of people chatting out their week is louder. Gus is handing drinks out left and right to both groups of friends letting off steam and the few loners drowning their sorrows. Kara made it over to the billiards table where Sam and Sebastian always play. A beer is thrust into her hand and she is forced onto the couch next to Abigail.

“It’s not every Friday we get to see you out and about,” Sam chuckles “everyone knows why though, have you seen her place? it's beautiful. Ever since she got here she's been working on that alone.” Abigail adds. 

The couch was uncomfortable and loose under her weight. While the three friends joke and play around, attempting to make conversation with her, Kara sips her beer. It was bad but at least it was making conversation easier. 

“Where did you get your haircut? It's horrible. My mom usually cuts hair around here, I'll tell her you need a trim” Abigail said, running her hands through Kara’s short messy bob of brown hair. She had cut it herself.

“I don't know abbs, I'm digging the farmer look”  
“shit sam, I thought you liked musician girls” Seb butted in.  
Sam, eyeing Kara and making the last shot of billiards, comments “I do Sebby, I do, But she’s cute” He meant it as a compliment but she didn't want to be cute. 24-year-olds don't want to be cute. Once the conversation trailed off in other directions, Kara snuck her way over to the bar to get… Something, anything, and sat down next to Shane. A town loner. She had spoken to him before but he only yelled at her. She was fine with that though. He hadn't said anything too mean so she continued to annoy him on a few different occasions. 

As soon as she sat down he tried to stand, only to lift himself off the stool before realizing she would probably follow him wherever he sat. He handed her one of the unopened beers out of the six-pack he'd been working on that night. His hair was messy, eyes puffy and face bloated. She knew he'd been there long before anyone else, and he wasn't here to let off the week's steam. She'd seen him here the few times she came although she never knew why. He was depressed. Lost in his life. No self-worth. In short, he didn’t need to be bothered by another person so he pushed everyone away. He knew himself very well, he thought. Anyone who got close to him would get hurt, he knew. Kara didn’t think about that when she spoke to him. She didn’t know and didn’t much care, why he was so grumpy and alone. All she thought when she spoke with him was “I hope he says something nice today.” he never did.

“Aren't you a little young to be comin’ up to me in a bar?” he scoffed  
“No, I’m your age ya goof.”  
“What do you want this time?”  
“Same as always; I do this just to bother you.”  
“Great, just what I need, another person barking up my ass.”

A large hand landed on Shane’s shoulder  
“Poor man, so caught up looking for the bottom of the bottle he can’t stop to have a chat with a lady?” Elliott said. He rarely ever spoke to Shane, even in the few years he’d been in the valley.  
“What’s wrong with that? I’m the one who came to bother him. I like seeing him upset when he has nothing nice to say.” Kara admitted. Shane didn’t know how to end the conversation between the two. Just wanting to finish his damn beer, he thought about making his escape while they babbled on about him. 

“Come, let me buy you a drink.”  
“Fuck him, and his bullshit,” Shane thought quietly. Elliot was sincere and nice enough to everyone but him. “Maybe that’s what makes him so infuriating. Putting on his big show for everyone, especially the girls.” Elliot was a romantic man. Good with his words; using them to attract anyone who’d listen. Shane was the exact opposite. A man of few words who’d rather say “let’s fuck” than take a girl out to dinner three times a week for a year before holding her damn hand. He could never see why Leah (or any other woman) liked him so much. He figured it was probably because they liked his honeyed words and poetry. Shane didn’t always have intentions when he talked to girls but, for once, he wished Elliott would hurry the fuck up and pick one to marry already. All the other bachelors can't even go for the girls with him around. “Yeah, fuck that guy.” 

Shane’s face got red. He didn't think Kara was cute. She wasn't. She was completely bland really. Utterly normal looking. Actually, nothing about her stood out. She didn't even visit the town that often. She would be a person to get piercings and dye her hair, she didn't. She didn't see a point to it. Not liking people if the first place she didn't want to draw attention to herself.  
Shane didn’t see why Elliott pulled her away from him every time he saw them. Neither of them was going for her so why try so hard? Shane tried his hardest to be mean to her, so she'd leave on her own. When that didn’t work after awhile he would just sit and listen to whatever bullshit she was going to bother him with. Usually, it was about her progress at the farm or questions about his day, which pissed him off. “Why does she even care,” he asked himself when she came to him.

Kara put an arm around Shane, taking his beer out of his hand “Hey are you okay?” He jumped. “what! what? hey! give me my beer.” She held it further. “you've had four, I've had one, I want the rest.”  
“no fucking way, give it.”  
Kara held it further. It was only half a bottle.  
“Fuck. Fine, whatever.”  
Kara smiled, held it over the bar, and poured it down the sink.  
“Just my fucking luck,” Shane spat.  
“Sorry, I've had enough to drink tonight”

Shane walked home alone that night. Wanting a way to get this girl off his back and off his mind. “she’s so fucking bland.” he thought. Why did he hope she wouldn't stop bothering him? Even when he cursed and told her off, he always quietly hoped she wouldn't go no matter how much he bitched. He knew he wanted a friend but he didn't know why he picked her. “I should probably stop being a dick.” he thought. kicking the pebbles on the path to Marnie's farm. 

Abigail insisted on walking home with Kara after she had seen her with Elliott and Shane. 

“I don’t know why you go out of your way to talk to Shane, he’s such a dick. That's why I wanted to walk with you. you never know when he could follow you home or something” Abby spat with attitude. Kara kept quiet and listened to whatever Abigail was going to say. She didn't want to end up in a fight with her. 

“Elliot, what a man right?” Abigail squealed. “He makes me melt when he talks to me. Seb always gets so jealous!” Kara just rolled her eyes. Kara liked the attention she got from Elliot too, but she didn't think she'd have a chance with a guy like that. “Abigail, Penny, Maru… even Emily. All good looking women with amazing personalities…” there were only so many guys in town and it looked like she was the odd one out. 

By the time they came to her farm she had cleared her mind of those thoughts. She knew she was better off on her own. She would hurt anyone too close to her. Abigail wished her goodnight and went on her way. Kara sat down on her steps in the dim glow of the lampposts. She looked around at what all her hard work. Remembered buying her first seeds, raising her first chicks. She was no longer struggling. She was the last in her family though and longed to eventually come home to a family of her own. She thought about the few people in the town she could make friends with. Abigail was nice enough. Sebastian and Sam were good too but she needed female friends. She hadn't spoken to Penny or Maru in ages but everyone had opinions, and she didn't want to hear them. Abby didn't like it when Elliott, Sam, or Seb complemented other girls. No one liked it when Kara spoke to Shane, and she'd never heard the end of it. Going to bed she hoped she'd make a good friend.

Elliott walked into the bar at 5:30 pm the next day. “Ah, there you are,” he says, zoning in on Shane who was drinking and warming himself at the lit fireplace. 

“what do you want, ginger?” Shane snaps back at him.  
“I need to get ready for tomorrow, everyone has their own stall to set up. Since I don't have a trade Lewis asked me to set up the stalls really early. I’m asking you because you don't help anyone else.” Elliott explained.  
“I help marmie, Fuck off-,” Shane said with a bit of drunken slur.  
“Well then i guess it's just me and Kara” Elliott smirked and pulled up a chair at the bar. “it will be tough but I'm sure if we don't fool around too much we can get it done” Shane’s face got red hot -and not from the fire- “Oh so you would like to come?” Shane slammed his beer down and yelled.  
“Shut it Fabio” with everyone watching he stormed out of the bar, leaving Elliott snickering to himself before chugging an ale and hitting on Emily.

Elliot headed back to his hut on the beach and wondered why Shane seemed to hate him so much. “All I’ve done is try to get him out of that shell.” He thought to himself. He couldn’t help but talk with the ladies, he much preferred their company over that of a smelly grumpy man. Who wouldn’t want to have a nice conversation with a happy, kind, sweet girl? Truthfully he didn’t have his eyes on anyone.

Shane stormed into Marnie's farm, raging mad.  
“Hey! Don’t slam the door like that! You’ll scare Jas.” Marnie snapped at Shane but he didn’t hear her through his anger fit.  
“Of course that red-headed ass has to make fun of me. No one in this fucking town thinks I do anything! Fuck me.” He was right. No one in Pelican town thought Shane was going to do anything with his life; Not even him. For the rest of the night, he drank himself silly until passing out. 

The next day, Shane gathered up Marnie’s livestock and headed to the town square early in the morning. Robin, Clint, and Pierre were the only ones setting up their stalls that early. Gus showed up to cook the buffet before tourists showed up. For the petting zoo, Shane only had to pen up the animals and stand to watch over them. While he was setting out hay troughs for the pigs, he spotted Kara setting out her items in her stall. He walked over close enough to see her. The first thing that he noticed was that she had put her hair up in a small bun. He wasn’t sure why but it made her look very different, it showed off her round face.  
“You’ve always got the good stuff.” He said once he’d finally walked over to her.  
“No, Pierre has the good stuff. I have the best variety,” she said, still adjusting her display for maximum appeal. Shane popped a couple of grapes from the grange display into his mouth.  
“Hey, if you keep going I won’t have anything to show Lewis… wait…” Kara’s mind raced. Something was different. Something was very, very wrong. Shane sighed and looked at her, he wasn’t slouching for once. He still looked like he was hungover but he flashed her a half-smile and shrugged.  
“Like the mean Shane better?” he said jokingly.  
“No, I don’t,” she laughed,“but it’s weird. I expect you to snap at me. Tell me to go away, y'know?” Shane nervously chuckled. He didn’t know how bad he had been. He was going to try harder, for everyone. He was sick of being taken for the only lazy guy in town, sick of being made fun of for all his drinking. He needed to be treated like an adult.  
“Well, I guess... “ Shane felt like an ass, “sometimes I can be in a good mood…” Kara patted his shoulder “right. I have bad days too.” Kara wasn’t afraid of Shane or Elliott like she was of normal people. With anyone like Sam or Alex, She was a mess. Afraid of messing up, being made fun of. One wrong move or word and she could be reduced to a sniffling sobbing pile. She didn’t feel that way with those two, they were quirky, weird like her. 

She didn’t win 1st place at the fair, or even second. Only managing to bring home a vase of sunflowers. Elliott walked her home after her defeat.  
“You aren't well-known. Lewis would never have given you first.” Elliot sighed, Kara, dragged her feet on the gravel path and held her head down.  
“He’s not fond of me because I don’t socialize with everyone. It would take so much time and energy to talk to everyone every day. Maybe Mayor Lewis has that time but I sure fucking don’t. It would drain my emotions too. I can’t stand to be around half these people.” She said, keeping her eyes on her feet. She didn’t really want to win but the loss still disappointed her somehow.  
“Next year, you’ll win for sure,” Elliott replied with a hopeful but empty smile.  
“You mean if I’m still here next year,” Kara said quietly, almost to herself. 

Elliot didn’t know what she meant by that, but whatever she meant, he hated it. It almost made him feel like everything he had said to her were mistakes. Like he had failed her.  
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m not meant to stay in one place too long.” She sighed, keeping her eyes off Elliott.  
“I don’t think you should put yourself so far down in the dumps after one small thing upset you. It’s not healthy and it definitely isn’t fun, for anyone.”  
“I know that it’s not just the fair, it’s everything here. I thought I would be happy here”  
“A place doesn’t make people happy.”  
“What does?”  
“Whatever's in that place. Be it books or a nice bed to lay in, whatever is in that space with you. But people have to be there too. Almost nothing is fun alone and if something is I can tell you it’s better with others.”  
“I’ve been trying to make friends but I don’t think it’s working.”  
“Am I your friend?  
“I’m not sure, are you?” Kara said as they stepped onto her porch and stopped. 

“Well, You’re my friend even if I’m not yours yet. One of my best and that is very few.”  
“We don’t talk often.”  
“We don’t have to, would you like to?”  
“I would, yeah” Kara blushed a bit and hoped that it was just dark enough for Elliott not to see.  
“It’s settled then, you’ll meet me on the beach docks this Wednesday at noon.”

Elliott walked off before she could protest. She walked inside and got herself ready for bed. “Three days?” She said out loud to herself. Her little gray kitty jumped up onto her in bed. “What do you think Franklin?” She waited a moment but got no response, only a headbutt and a small lick. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”

Everyone except a select few went to church on Sundays and spent most of the day there, even having a dinner there. Kara was never one to go. Starting a new week means getting organized and cleaning up everything from the week before. Once she finished her Sunday routine she decided on resting up and lazing around the house. A knock at the door brought that to a pause. Shane was there, standing awkwardly with a pizza box. 

“I didn’t order a pizza, sorry.” Kara joked.  
“I can’t finish it by myself.”  
“Alright Alright.”

Shane entered her home.

“I hope you didn’t plan on getting drunk with me, I don't keep alcohol here. That's how farming accidents happen.” Kara said in a more serious tone.

Shane laughed, “yeah that does seem to be a pattern. I didn’t come to get drunk anyway. Shouldn’t you be at the temple right now?”

Kara sat down at her table and Shane did the same, each taking a fresh slice of pizza from its still warm box. 

“I’ve never been a fan and I’d be stuck in a back pew alone anyway. You have Marnie and Jas to go with don’t you?”

“It feels weird to go. Everyone kinda looks at me like I either shouldn’t be there or I should be the person asking for the most forgiveness. It's not a good feeling.” Shane sighed. 

“I know that feeling, don’t worry about it. I barely know these people and they shoot me those looks whenever I’m in town.”

Shane knew everyone in town was counting the days until Kara would decide to up and leave. Only a few of the young adults had seen the farm she had built. Everyone else thought she didn’t work. “They think of you the same way they think of me. To them, we're basically the same, except one of us is prettier. We don’t contribute to the community, in other words, we aren't handing out free shit to everyone and bending over backward to make them like us so we must be lazy right?” he snickered.

Kara stuck on the compliment for a moment and didn’t reply; looked at the greasy, empty pizza box.

“You’re obviously nothing like me.” Kara looked up at those words, slightly irritated.

“It’s not a bad thing for sure.” Shane sat back in his wooden chair, “They might’ve pooled us together but they don’t know me. You do things. Not for people that you don’t know but you’ve worked this farm from the ground up and you’re nice enough to continue bugging me even after I have nothing nice to say to you.”

“I wasn’t trying to bug you, I was trying to be your friend,” Kara spoke up, and met her eyes with Shane’s.

“I don’t consider myself as having friends, but I guess you win, I’m here right?” He half-smirked, stood up and walked to the door. “I’m gonna step out, wanna come?” 

They stood on Kara’s porch and looked out over her property. They walked through Marnie’s farm and down into the woods. Shane stressed the topic of the townspeople and tried to explain his knowledge of the valley best he could, and ended the night in the dark walking her home before settling down in his own.

That Wednesday went by without a hitch. Kara met Elliot down on the beach by his hut. They spent all afternoon watching the ocean crash to shore and the sun disappear under the horizon. They didn’t do much talking but by nightfall, they both felt they had become closer. On her way home Kara comforted an upset and very drunk Shane on the dock in the forest. 

“Want *hic* a drink?” he said with the slight slur of drunkenness Kara knew very well from him.  
“No, I don’t want to drink with you, it’s dark and cold and if you pass out and fall into this pond you’ll drown,” Kara said, pulling on Shane’s arm. He snapped, Grabbed her arm and threw it off of himself. “So fucking what? It doesn’t fucking matter if I die! I might as well do it my damn self! No one would care. No one would be sad for me.”

Kara sat down next to him and took that extra beer. They both stayed quiet for a long, long time. 

Kara finally spoke up once she’d seen the bottom of her beer. “I don’t know if you are clinically diagnosed but you should see someone and get help for this depression.”  
“Shut the fuck up. I’m not getting help, I’m better off getting worse until I die.” Shane snapped back at her.  
“Okay.” She stood and walked away. “I’d miss you, Shane, But don’t let me stop you from doing what you want.” Kara’s words struck him hard. He’d been an ass again. He couldn’t help it. He had gotten so upset when he spotted them sitting on the beach docks, watching the sunset. He put his arm around her. Shane’s felt queasy and drank until Kara had seen him on her way home. He wasn’t sure of himself anymore. He didn’t know how he felt about anything anymore. 

The incident with Shane kept Kara down. She had started to feel happy those couple days after Elliott confirmed their friendship but Shane’s mean words and actions took that away from her. She didn’t feel sorry for him but she did want to help, she had tried and failed. Knowing she didn’t want him to let himself drown that night she stayed in the trees and watched him until he made it safely into the farmhouse. She didn’t speak to him for a long while after that night.  
She decided not to talk with him until she was sure he wouldn’t get upset with her again. 

“You go down there every night?” Elliot asked from across Kara’s kitchen table.

“Yeah. Most nights he drinks inside but when he’s on the dock I sit on a stump and wait for him to go inside.”

“I know it must be tough for him but I must ask. If he wants to do that to himself why don’t you just let him do what he wants?”  
Kara sighed and put her head down. “My depression has been like that before Elliot. It must seem hard to understand but he doesn’t want to die. He wants to stop hurting. I can’t try to help with that anymore so the least I can do is make sure he doesn’t die.”

Talking with Elliott was her only pass time. She cried alone at home a lot of the time. Fall ended and most days she went into the mine. She didn’t show up at the Festival of ice or the Feast of the winter star. It was a lonely winter. Shane hated himself even if he didn’t remember what he said. He hated that he alienated her so badly. On his way to work every day he hoped he’d see her in his path but he never did. He never saw her at the saloon anymore either. He only ran into her once or twice at the store all season. He couldn’t have spoken to her about the incident around other people but he didn’t get the chance to ask to see her alone, she’d put her head down and almost run away at the sight of him. 

Spring came and Kara won the egg hunt. The dance came and once again she had no one to dance with. One hot summer day, Mayor Lewis turned off the heating of the town spa and everyone gathered to swim in the cold water. Everyone except Shane. No one really thought about it but Kara and Elliott walked down to Marnie's farm. 

As they walked south through Kara’s farm, Elliot stopped and admired her work.

“You’ve really outdone yourself. If anyone else had moved here this place wouldn’t be so beautiful.” Elliot said as he laid a hand on a fence and looked at the pecking chickens. He looked up to Kara. “This place is so calm”  
“Yeah.. there’s still room for lots of improvement though.”  
“You’ll get there.” They started walking again.  
“Kara maybe I should be the one to invite Shane. Seeing as how you two aren't on good terms…”  
“Yeah, I was hoping you’d say that,” Kara said, hanging her head.

And with that Kara was waiting outside, alone. 

Elliot made it to Shane’s bedroom door. Knocking then shouting “hey are you here?”  
He heard a voice muffled by the closed door. “What do you want?”  
“Lewis turned off the heat at the bathhouse so everyone could come swim. We want you to come with us. It’s too hot to stay in this house today.” Shane opened the door, clearly, he had been drinking the night before and sweating heavily.  
“Who’s we? I know damn well,” he paused to pant and breathe. “no one cares if I smother here.” He sneered.  
“Kara and I came to get you.”  
“Oh? So she’s done avoiding me?” he said sarcastically. “I thought I’d finally got her off my back. I guess not.” He tried to close the door but Elliot held it open, now angry. “Listen here bum, You’ve always been mean to everyone even before I got here and I don’t care. I won’t try to change that, But Kara is the only person in this town who cares about you. It’s been 2 seasons and you haven’t made any attempt to patch it up meanwhile this girl busts her, pardon my french, ass all day on her farm with no help, then every day comes down here and watches you drink your sorrows away on that pond dock. You know why she does that? Because she told me, she thinks you are going to drown yourself. She would hate to see you die that way and so would i. Now put on your swimsuit and get yourself outside, I can’t breathe this hot air any longer!” And with that Elliot slammed the door and went outside. Leaving Shane very nearly in tears.

Kara ran up to him. “I heard yelling is everything alright?”  
“He’ll be right out, I needed to give him a little pep talk.”  
“Didn’t sound like a ‘pep talk’ to me.”

After a long time, Shane did come out. Things were silent until Kara wanted to retrieve something from her farmhouse and disappeared inside. Elliot leaned over to Shane. “You tell her I went ahead. You stay and apologize maybe?” he smiled and walked away. “Had she really watched me all that time?” Shane sat on her porch and thought about what Elliot had said to him. He hadn’t felt his normal urge to scream and yell at him after Elliot said those things. Not knowing whether to believe it or not, Shane just hoped it was true. He hoped he had gained a loyal friend even though he knew he didn’t deserve it. He was still daydreaming when she stepped out of the house.  
“Where’d Elliot go?” she asked. “He went ahead, too hot for him.”  
“He could’ve just stepped inside. Oh well, we’ll see him there I guess.”  
“Yeah.”

Shane, still sitting on the steps, looked down at his feet. Kara sat next to him and laid a hand on his. “Is something wrong or is this the normal Shane sadness?” She asked. He shot his eyes up to meet hers, “I'm not good with apologies. I don't even remember why you started avoiding me but I'm sure I was drunk. Elliot told me you've been looking out for me. I didn't know.”

Her facial expression didn't change. He wanted her to smile, to accept his apology, to start bugging him again. Without a smile, she squeezed his large hand as much as her small one could fit around, “ I wasn't waiting for an apology or anything. I just thought maybe I bugged you too much and you got tired of me. I still didn't want you dead though.” she said with a straight face. “oh,” Shane muttered “ it's not your fault I'm so upset all the time. I must've been so far gone… I can't remember.” 

He didn’t remember what he said to her but he knew he drank that night out of jealousy. The image of Elliot with his arm around her was burned into Shane’s skull. He was sure he didn’t like her romantically but why had it bothered him so much? He could barely keep a good conversation with a girl but Kara wasn’t like that, and now she didn’t look so average. Her blue eyes pierced their way into his mind, her hair feathered and fell perfectly brushing her shoulders. The curve of her delicate pink lips, her round face, and neckline all called out softly longing to be kissed. She looked so soft, he was afraid she’d break if he tried to touch her with his callused hands or even brought his scruffy, stubbly face close to her skin.  
“if you don't remember then I guess I’ll try to forget too.” Kara flashed him a smile, lifting weight from his chest, and said, “just don't do it again, my memory isn't as bad as it seems” 

Shane finds himself mildly irritated during the short walk up through the paths to the spa where the rest of the town’s members were already swimming in the indoor, shady pool. He watched her walk in front of him and tried to focus on the bad. Her eyebrows were bushier than most girls who take care of them. In the farming seasons she wore jeans and a huge t-shirt to keep her shoulders from getting burned, he’d never seen much of her body shape. She had a bad case of resting bitch face; even if she wasn’t irritated. Shane then tried to focus on the shitty parts of himself in hopes that he’d snap himself out of wondering his thoughts to her shape a few feet in front of him. 

“Okay, she’s kinda nice. It’s not like I’d ever like her… Or even have a chance with her. I’d just end up making her run away.”

They arrive at the indoor pool, Shane hops in only to float around on his back or stand in the water silently. Not engaging in any of the pool play with the others and wishing someone had brought alcohol to the party. Kara emerges from the girls dressing room with Penny, they had done each other's hair up in buns and pins and such to keep it dry. Shane found himself staring at her dark blue bathing suit as she jumped in and got out to jump again. Her usual farming and mining clothes hide her curves, stealing away any sexuality to her body; now her wet bathing suit clung to her curves and showed off her collarbone that was always hidden beneath her blue bandana. Shane manages to look away and notices that Elliot had also taken a liking to her new look. Swimming over to him, Shane irritatingly mutters to Elliot, who has Leah on his shoulders as she tosses a ball back and forth with a few others. 

“It's obvious you’re eyeing every girl here dude, calm it down”  
“I see no girl upset with me Shane,” Elliot says calmly, still studying Kara’s curves and glancing up at Leah’s sizeable chest every now and then.  
“Its creepy” Shane spat, clearly irritated.  
“Look, there is nothing wrong with enjoying the sight of these beautiful women from afar. Since I have no intentions to “use” any one of them, I can look where I please can I not?” Elliot snapped back with a smug smile, aware of Shane’s irritated mood. Elliot lets Leah down off his shoulders and looks back at Shane, now furious. 

“So” Elliot starts. “You’re getting fussy because the girls prefer me over you?” Shane throws a punch, Elliot ducks under the water missing Shane’s rage. Everyone’s eyes are on Shane when Elliot resurfaces, now just as furious has Shane. “You’re just pathetic” Elliot spits. Shane looks around at the eyes blaring into his back, including Marnie, Jas, and Kara still holding her beach ball. Shane wades out of the water as fast as he can, feeling the weight of the towns hateful glares. Pulling himself out of the water he slips and only embarrasses himself more. Stomping out of the spa in his still wet bathing suit. 

Everyone in the room still silent, Elliot exits into the men’s dressing rooms to sit. “Have I been to share with him?” He thought to himself. Elliot had the tendency to be critical of others, it was his writer personality despite his writer's block. It’s been weeks since he could put an entry in his current book. All he can do is go out to town and mingle with the people, but nobody inspired his poetic word and Elliot only wrote romance. He had not made progress since he’d first met Kara and seen the forest where her farm now stands. He saw the progress that she’d made, the progress of the small town thriving far from big cities and well-known landmarks as the perfect muse for his storytelling but now that he’s settled here he can't find it. “If I don't come out with a new book soon.. I'll have to move back to the city.” His thoughts floated back to Shane. Maybe they were not so different he thought. “Failures.” Had Shane even tried to make anything out of his life? Elliot had. He tried hard to keep writing through the comments and discouragement of his family and friends back in the city. “All Shane has is Marnie and Jas,” he thought “and Kara I guess, but at least they support him.” Elliot returned home thinking about Shane’s anger towards him, and how he wished for someone to support his choices for once. 

Once the day was almost over, Kara retreated from the pool and walked back towards home, not thinking Shane would want to see anyone after his embarrassment. Although no one knew what the fight had been about. Once she left the train tracks she walked down the paths to the mine, planning to take the mine carts home. She finds Shane swimming in the small pools of stream water coming from the mountains. He’s floating still in the calm waters, the sun dipping down behind the mountains. 

“Too hot to hang out at Marnie's?” She asked, trying not to startle him.


End file.
